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Letter From The President: That ?Debate?

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 Source: J. A. Fukuor/Daily Dispatch

Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents

I believe you were all amused by that ?thing? they called a debate. It wasn?t a debate, was it? In my opinion it was just an ordinary Komla Dumor interview ? call it a televised version of his Super Morning Show on radio. That ?debate?, once again, confirmed my long-held belief that we Africans are jokers. Do we even know how to debate?
A debate is supposed to be a healthy, sometimes aggressive, exchange of competitive ideas. A debate should be a give-and-take argument. I remember watching the Bushman and Curry debating ? offering competitive ideas, strongly defending them and vowing to implement them to the letter if elected. Not only was it exciting ? it was also very stimulating and dare I say, scary for me. I decided not to take part in the debate when I realized that the Bushman had lost the debates and analysts started predicting that his poor performance in the debates could cost him the elections. So I pulled out ? thinking that our debate was also going to be a battle of wits and wiles. But what did we see last week? Three hopeless presidential candidates sitting comfortably, answering questions from a broadcaster, just as they would have done in a radio studio.

Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents

I believe you were all amused by that ?thing? they called a debate. It wasn?t a debate, was it? In my opinion it was just an ordinary Komla Dumor interview ? call it a televised version of his Super Morning Show on radio. That ?debate?, once again, confirmed my long-held belief that we Africans are jokers. Do we even know how to debate?
A debate is supposed to be a healthy, sometimes aggressive, exchange of competitive ideas. A debate should be a give-and-take argument. I remember watching the Bushman and Curry debating ? offering competitive ideas, strongly defending them and vowing to implement them to the letter if elected. Not only was it exciting ? it was also very stimulating and dare I say, scary for me. I decided not to take part in the debate when I realized that the Bushman had lost the debates and analysts started predicting that his poor performance in the debates could cost him the elections. So I pulled out ? thinking that our debate was also going to be a battle of wits and wiles. But what did we see last week? Three hopeless presidential candidates sitting comfortably, answering questions from a broadcaster, just as they would have done in a radio studio.

Columnist: J. A. Fukuor/Daily Dispatch